Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wanted a historic World War II-era globe associated with Dwight D. Eisenhower moved to his Pentagon office.

On February 3, his staff tried moving it without professional curators, who were furloughed during a government shutdown.

They dropped the globe, puncturing its shell and breaking its rotating mount. The damaged artifact was never relocated.

Source: WaPo

Saudi Aramco ordered staff to evacuate its Dhahran headquarters and work remotely, marking its first evacuation since the Iran war began.

The move follows a damaging Houthi strike on the headquarters earlier this month and recent attacks near Dammam airport and the Shaybah oilfield that killed four people.

Source: Reuters

Italian PM Meloni:

In some areas, a small number of individuals continue to block roads, and they do not stop there.

They threaten those who want to work and slash the tires of their fellow truck drivers.

This is not protest. It is intimidation, and we will not tolerate intimidation.

Italian PM Meloni:

This government fully respects those who want to demonstrate and listens to those asking for help while respecting the rules.

But we also have a duty to enforce the laws of the state and not allow ourselves to be blackmailed by those who use violence as a means of pressure.

Russia Uses Fishing Trawlers to Spy on UK’s Undersea Cables: Report

A Telegraph investigation identified 17 Russian fishing vessels operating close to British undersea cables connecting the country with Europe and the US, as NATO monitors suspected civilian surveillance ships.

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Peter Thiel on AI:

There is a certain type of high-tech totalitarianism that's being tried out in China.

It's not as violent as Stalin or Mao or Hitler. You don't need to kill as many people, but it somehow knows more about you than you know about yourself.

There's something about that that we really don't want to be the model that wins.

It's hard when the big companies themselves are telling you to stop and to slow down.

Peter Thiel on AI:

The government doesn't really know how to regulate it.

They don't want to regulate you. They want to yell at you. They want to complain about you and yell at you.

Peter Thiel:

If the whole world becomes totalitarian, there's no outside left. That feels like this catastrophic singularity which might not be reversible.

You know, the Soviet Union was a totalitarian system. At some point, it could decay and fall apart because there was still an outside left.

You know, if the whole world is North Korea, that might last for a really long time.

Trump on Russia:

Everyone thinks I made the right decision by waiving the Graham sanctions on Russia.

Peter Thiel:

We're worrying about Armageddon. We're not worrying about the Antichrist.

And my contrarian intuition is that that alone tells you you need to worry more about the Antichrist than Armageddon.

Peter Thiel:

What's the antonym of good?

And is it evil, as in morally evil? Or is it bad, as in incompetent?

You know, let's say a Ferrari is an evil car because it doesn't get many miles to the gallon. And whatever Lada or Trabant, the Eastern Bloc cars that don't work, are worse than a golf cart. That's a bad car. It breaks down all the time.

And so it's better to be good than evil. But maybe if you're evil, you're at least competent, and at least you're not bad.

Major U.S. banks are detecting unauthorized AI agents accessing customer accounts, sometimes acting beyond user instructions.

JPMorgan, Bank of America, Citi and Morgan Stanley are restricting access amid concerns over unauthorized transactions and fund transfers.

Source: Axios

JD Vance on Starlink:

Elon Musk runs a private corporation, and I think it's completely understandable that he doesn't want to get in the middle of what is a war between two state actors without the United States government effectively directing him on what to do.

I don't think this is about Elon. I think it's fundamentally what is America's policy in Ukraine and Russia going to be.

JD Vance on Starlink:

European countries have almost universally decided to wage regulatory and licensing war against SpaceX.

And now they're all running to SpaceX saying, "Please do what we need you to do."

I think this drives home one of the things the president has talked about for years, which is that European countries depend on American technology, American businesses, and the American military, while at the same time, European political leaders love to bash the United States allies that they depend upon so much.

Q: Ukraine has now agreed multiple times to come to the table. Russia has not. So what gives you confidence that this time will be different?

JD Vance: Well, I think both countries have agreed to come to the table.

CNN airs a montage of Trump complimenting other men on their looks.

Trump:

Germany's Chancellor Merz:

There will be no lasting peace in Ukraine without Europe.

There will be no lasting solution reached over the heads of the Ukrainians, nor over the heads of the Europeans.

This must be a joint effort.

Türkiye and Canada have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen partnerships in the defence sector.

Canadian PM Mark Carney:

Earlier today, I paid my respects at Anıtkabir, where Türkiye honours the founder of this Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

And the monument is surrounded by a peace park. And in the years following the Second World War, nations from around the world, including Canada, sent trees to grow side by side.

And today, that park stands as a living symbol of friendship between nations, a shared hope for peace. And it reminds us that the strongest partnerships take root over time.

And they are nourished by mutual respect, by steady commitment, and by common purpose.

And today, that purpose matters more than ever.